A Division II college basketball game between Tuskegee University and Morehouse College on Saturday ended with Tuskegee coach Benjy Taylor being escorted off the court in handcuffs.
In a video obtained by HBCU Gameday, a security officer can be seen escorting the cuffed Taylor past the stands and into a hallway. Another video shows the circumstances that led to the bizarre scene, with Taylor confronting a security officer about the handshake lines and the officer responding by pulling out the handcuffs.
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While Taylor is clearly angry, at no point does he appear to present any physical threat to the officer.
Taylor later provided a statement to The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman, criticizing the decision to handcuff him and saying he was simply voicing concerns about Morehouse football players entering the handshake line:
“I am at a loss for words and I am upset about how I was violated and treated today. For my players, my family and people of Tuskegee to witness that is heartbreaking for me. I was simply trying to get the football team out of the handshake line as they were following right behind me and the team yelling obscenities! It was a very dangerous situation.”
Tuskegee athletic director Reginald Ruffin also provided more context to HBCU Gameday. After the game, a 77-69 Morehouse win over Tuskegee, a group of Morehouse football players reportedly intermingled with the teams, which Ruffin described as a “security breach.”
Taylor reportedly went to the security officer asking for the football players to be removed. Ruffin described his coach’s actions as reasonable, but the security officer apparently saw something else, via HBCU Gameday:
“He asked the security officer, ‘Can you please remove them from the line?’ That’s what he asked the security officer,” Ruffin said.
Ruffin added that the security officer’s account differed, claiming Taylor was “very aggressive” and “the aggressor,” which Ruffin said was not accurate. He said the officer cited that perception as the reason Taylor was placed in cuffs.
Taylor was reportedly released and traveled home with the team. He has been Tuskegee’s head coach since 2019, per the school’s site.
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On Sunday, Taylor has hired national civil rights attorney Harry Daniels to pursue a possible civil lawsuit. Daniels said in a release that Taylor had asked an officer to remove players from Morehouse’s football team who were “acting aggressively” toward Tuskegee players and their parents to remove them from the court.
They are now investigating “all legal avenues,” including a possible civil lawsuit.
“Such behavior from the Morehouse football players, particularly their intermingling with the basketball players on the court and during the postgame handshake is prohibited by conference-mandated security protocols,” the release said, via Alabama.com.
“When Coach Taylor asked two police officers to enforce those protocols attempting to diffuse an increasingly dangerous situation, however, one of the officers chose to place him in handcuffs and escort him from the court. Coach Taylor was never charged with a crime.”
